


Sick

by beerbad



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Polyamory, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 01:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beerbad/pseuds/beerbad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Established Charming/Red/Snow.  Red takes care of a very grumpy and sick Emma while Snow & Charming have their date night.  (See notes! Tagging is hard, yo.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MickeySam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MickeySam/gifts).



> This fic takes place within MickeySam's [Red Snowing 'verse](http://traumatizing-emma.tumblr.com), which I adore so much. I got this plotbunny and it wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote it. Thanks, Sam, for letting me play in your headcanon! <3
> 
> I tagged this as "age regression" although there is no explicit ageplay or de-aging. Just Emma feeling like a little kid and needing extra comfort from any and all of her parental units. ;)

It was their first date night in ages, Red had even agreed to stay home with Emma, and Snow was determined. But Emma was not making it easy.

Snow knew something was wrong that morning when Emma had passed on her normal bowl of cereal and had collapsed on the couch as soon as she stepped in the door after work. Whatever bug she’d picked up had only gotten worse as the day went on; by the evening she had dissolved into the grumpy, weepy Emma that always appeared whenever she got sick.

Still, the dramatics seemed especially heightened on this particular night. Date night.

“Don’t go,” Emma pleaded, tugging on the sleeve of Snow’s coat, “Please.” And out came the large, watery puppy dog eyes, right on schedule.

“Emma,” Snow said calmly, “You’ll be fine. Mama’s gonna take good care of you, I promise, and we’ll be back before you know it.” Snow glanced behind her daughter to Red, silently pleading for a little assistance.

“Dad…” Emma tried, as Red stepped forward and laid a hand on Emma’s back.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“I don’t feel good…” she whined, her bottom lip starting to wibble. Snow knew it was now or never. Charming really was a pushover when it came to their daughter.

He turned to Snow. “Maybe we should just call it off.”

With one last hug for Emma and kiss for Red, she grabbed Charming’s hand and turned toward the door. “That’s it, we’re going, see you later! Everything will be fine!”

~~~~~

The tears started almost immediately after the door closed behind them. This wasn’t the first time Red had experienced Emma in this state; she was well aware how drastically Emma’s behavior and demeanor changed whenever she was sick. Still, things seemed to be hitting her harder tonight.

“Oh, Pup, it’s okay,” Red said sympathetically, squeezing Emma’s shoulder. Without reply, Emma made a beeline for the couch again, falling face-down into the cushions.

Red couldn’t help but feel a little slighted. Sure, she wasn’t Emma’s biological parent, but they were still a family. She went to get the thermometer out of the medicine cabinet, and then climbed the stairs to Emma’s bedroom.

“I think this will make you feel better,” Red suggested as she handed Emma her baby blanket. Emma took it and held the soft material close against her chest. Granny had knitted the blanket for Emma before she was even born, so in a way, Red realized, it was like a part of her had been with Emma from the very beginning after all. She smiled at the thought.

Red knelt down next to the couch. “Can you tell me what hurts?”

“Everything,” Emma moaned, silent tears still running down her face. “I want Mom and Dad to come home.”

Red looked at her with pity. “I know, sweet girl. We just need to be patient.” She reached over to wipe away some of Emma’s tears with her thumb. “Now let’s take your temperature. Armpit or mouth?”

Emma turned away, burying her face in the back of the couch and curling her body into a ball. “Emma, work with me here. Please,” Red said firmly. She wanted to help Emma feel better as much as she could, but it was difficult when she didn’t fully understand why Emma was so upset.

Emma lifted one arm in response, the other still grasping her blanket. “Armpit it is,” Red said to herself.

After a minute the thermometer beeped, showing a normal temperature. “No fever, that’s good. Besides everything hurting, how else do you feel?” Red questioned, stroking Emma’s arm lightly.

“Tired. Achey. Sore throat,” Emma mumbled into the cushions. She was sniffling too, though Red couldn’t tell if it was from congestion or the crying.

“Okay, I have a plan of action. There’s two parts,” Red said, standing up. “The first involves cold medicine. And then we move on to phase two, which includes lots of cuddling and TV. What do you think?”

Emma nodded.

After a little coaxing, Emma sat up and drank the purple Nyquil. “I don’t see how that’s grape,” she commented, sticking out her tongue.

“Hush,” Red replied, “and scootch over.”

Red sat down on the couch and Emma lay back down, head in Red’s lap. “Just relax,” Red encouraged as she began to stroke Emma’s hair.

Halfway through their first episode of Downton Abbey, Red noticed that Emma was softly crying again. “You’re okay, baby,” Red whispered in a soothing voice. “Do you want to try and get some sleep? I bet they’ll be home before the end of the next episode…”

“No…” Emma choked out, “I want to stay up.”

“Okay,” Red said as she rubbed Emma’s back. She sometimes wondered if Emma was like this when she was sick because unlike during her childhood, she actually had people now to take care of her. It made sense that she was extra sensitive about them leaving her.

“Emma, sit up for a second.” Emma slowly did as Red asked, rubbing the tears from her eyes. “Now look at me.”

Red could see how miserable and exhausted she was, in more ways than one. “Your parents are not going anywhere. Every time you’re sick, just like tonight, your mother will pretend to put you to bed, even though you’ll always end up in ours, and the next morning your father will always be there to spoil you and give you popsicles and whatever else he thinks could possibly help you feel better. As for me, you know who’s the best temperature-taker around.” She winked, hoping Emma believed her words.

“And I miss them too,” Red admitted. “Now I think I need some of those patented Charming family cuddles.”

Emma crawled into Red’s lap, still sniffling. “Love you, Mama,” she whispered, nuzzling into Red’s neck.

“I love you too, Pup.” Red draped Emma’s blanket over the two of them as best she could.

~~~~~

Snow and Charming came back to a quiet and dark house, the only noise and light coming from the TV. “See, I told you they’d be asleep,” Snow said. “She always tires herself out eventually. Looks like she tired Red out too.”

Emma stirred at the sound of her voice. “...Mom?”

“Shh, I’m right here,” Snow said as the pair walked over to the couch. “How are you feeling, honey?”

“Sleepy,” Emma pouted. “Mama gave me that grape stuff.”

“Okay, let’s go to bed.”

“‘Kay.” With a yawn, Emma let Snow lead her over to the bedroom.

Red awoke when she felt the absence of Emma’s weight on her legs. She stood and stretched. “Well, how was the date?” she asked Charming.

He came over and gave her a kiss. “It was nice, but I’d be lying if I said we weren’t a little worried. About both of you.”

“I gave her drugs. And we watched Downton,” Red smiled, hooking an arm around Charming’s waist. “Mostly we missed you.”

“We missed you too,” Charming replied. “So, bed?”

“Bed.”


End file.
